1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to energization control of a device (such as a scanner device and a printer device) included in an information processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with improvement of power saving functions, a technique has recently been discussed for energizing a functional device included in an image forming apparatus when it is detected that the functional device is going to be used by a user. According to the technique, for example, functional devices of the image forming apparatus such as a printer device, a scanner device, and a facsimile (FAX) device are energized from power supply only when they are used. More specifically, the scanner device is energized only when a scan function is used. The printer device is energized only when a print function is used. The FAX device is energized only when a FAX function is used. Similarly, boards and chips related to the printer device, the scanner device, and the FAX function are concurrently energized only when they are used (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-199777).
However, the printer device, the scanner device, and the FAX device are energized and initialized after the image forming apparatus determines to perform the processing. Initialization time is thus needed for energization, software initialization, and hardware preprocessing. As a result, it takes long to start the printer device, the scanner device, and the FAX device. The execution of the processing delays accordingly, which reduces the user's convenience.
To address such a problem, an application that provides a function of the image forming apparatus may perform by itself the initialization processing and energization processing of an appropriate device at appropriate timing before inputting a job. For example, a COPY application may initialize and energize the scanner device and the printer device when displaying a copy setting screen. Further, a SEND application may initialize the scanner device when displaying a transmission setting screen.
However, into applications created in the past (hereinafter referred to as legacy applications), the processing for initializing and energizing an appropriate device at appropriate timing is not incorporated. If a legacy application is run on the foregoing image forming apparatus, the legacy application cannot perform initialization and energization processing at appropriate timing and the initialization and energization processing are not performed until a job is submitted. Therefore, a problem remains that the performance of the legacy applications at the time of job execution drops as compared to when the legacy applications are run on a conventional image forming apparatus.